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Sofia Tenorio Fenton

Caroline Winchester

Sofia Scharrer

Ariana Carter

ECOM Research Team

<p>Cocoa production has been linked to high rates of deforestation and biodiversity loss, making it a significant contributor to environmental degradation. Addressing and mitigating these negative impacts is essential for achieving a more sustainable cocoa supply chain.</p>



<p>ECOM, one of the world’s largest cocoa traders and processors that sources from over 30 countries, has made it a priority to reduce the negative impacts from their operations. One way they are doing so is by applying a standardized methodology developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) to ensure the cocoa beans they use are sustainably sourced and are not linked to forest loss.</p>



<p>Recognizing that collective action is critical to ending deforestation and no one company can tackle the problem alone, ECOM joined the <a href="https://worldcocoafoundation.org/programmes-and-initiatives/cocoa-and-forests-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cocoa & Forests Initiative</a> (CFI), facilitated by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), and established in 2017 with the aim of ending cocoa-driven deforestation and restoring forest areas. Companies that joined the CFI agreed to map their supply chains, align methodologies on deforestation risk assessment and contribute to transparent monitoring and reporting.</p>



<p>To support these efforts, World Resources Institute (WRI) partnered with WCF and 19 major cocoa and chocolate companies to create <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-tools/data-resources-ending-deforestation-cocoa-west-africa/">two data-driven resources</a> available on GFW — the <a href="https://gfw.global/4bEEES2">West Africa Cocoa dataset</a> and the <a href="https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::cocoa-deforestation-risk-assessment/about">Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment (DRA)</a> — that ECOM has adapted and scaled to additional regions to secure a more sustainable cocoa supply chain.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1430" height="868" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023.png" alt="" class="wp-image-16731" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023.png 1430w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023-1024x622.png 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023-768x466.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1430px) 100vw, 1430px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Proactively identifying deforestation risk in cocoa supply chains</h2>



<p>Prior to the Cocoa DRA, ECOM relied on broader, less tailored tools such as national level risk assessments or global data sets like the ones available on GFW. With the release of the Cocoa DRA, ECOM was able to adapt <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/mapping-cocoa-assessing-deforestation-risk-cocoa-cote-divoire-ghana" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its methodology</a> to carry out widespread risk assessment in a standardized manner, expanding the model to other geographies and analyzing data from Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Nigeria, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Vietnam and Uganda.</p>



<p>The flexibility of the Cocoa DRA has enabled ECOM to leverage global data and peer-reviewed methods while supplementing these with their own farm boundary data and ground verification (which is an essential component of cocoa monitoring since satellites can have trouble detecting cocoa grown under shade canopies).</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="602" height="205" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Picture1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-18569"/></figure>



<p>Once high-risk areas have been identified, ECOM works with smallholder farmers to proactively tackle cocoa-linked deforestation, focusing on prevention through strategies like sensitization training or Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs. The focus on high-risk locations enables further engagement with farmers and remediation to avoid excluding them from the supply chain, which can lead to worse outcomes and accelerate deforestation.</p>



<p>For example, since 2021, ECOM has partnered with a customer and local farming communities in Ghana to promote agroforestry through a PES initiative. The program provides farmers with multi-purpose shade trees, and farmers receive financial incentives for maintaining these trees over three years, boosting adoption rates. To ensure the program’s success and its meaningful contributions to local biodiversity and ecosystem health, ECOM conducted comprehensive land assessments prior to implementation. These assessments identified suitable tree species and accounted for farmers’ needs. The initiative includes training in Good Agricultural Practices, environmental stewardship and business management. A progress report due later in 2025 will highlight its impact on biodiversity and ecosystem health.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2048" height="1363" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ghana-SourceTrust-1-2048x1363.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-18570" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ghana-SourceTrust-1-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ghana-SourceTrust-1-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ghana-SourceTrust-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ghana-SourceTrust-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: ECOM</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Beyond regulatory compliance</h2>



<p>As the cocoa sector is focused on preparing for compliance with regulations like the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), it is crucial to recognize the continued importance of solutions and approaches that go beyond near-term compliance needs to effectively address sector-wide, systemic challenges.<strong></strong></p>



<p>While regulatory compliance assessments are focused on whether deforestation risk occurred after a given cut-off date, they often do not help identify future deforestation risk or inform collective action. The Cocoa DRA is intended to support better allocation of resources for halting deforestation and to enable collaborative approaches among cocoa supply chain actors where they’re most urgently needed to address deforestation.</p>



<p>For example, in Côte d’Ivoire, ECOM is using information gained from the Cocoa DRA to inform multiple efforts aiming to protect forests and support sustainability. In one project, they’re collaborating with the <a href="https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/32209.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Green Innovation Centre of GIZ</a>, the German Corporation for International Cooperation, to provide training and awareness-raising to help farmers adapt to climate change, build resilience and increase incomes through climate-smart cocoa and agroforestry. Around the protected areas of the Bossematié Nature Reserve and the Beki Classified Forest, ECOM is working to tackle deforestation and improve conservation by helping farmers in the forest buffer zone transition to agroforestry. They collaborated with GIZ to develop a management plan for the Reserve’s buffer zone and are now developing an incentive scheme based on carbon stocks and additional planting of trees for promoting agroforestry practices.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2048" height="1365" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Cote-dIvoire-Daloa-2048x1365.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-18571" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Cote-dIvoire-Daloa-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Cote-dIvoire-Daloa-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Cote-dIvoire-Daloa-768x512.jpg 768w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Cote-dIvoire-Daloa-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: ECOM</figcaption></figure>



<p>Additionally, two briquette production units are being installed within two of ECOM’s partner cooperatives to promote the use of sustainable briquettes made from organic waste. This initiative aims to reduce reliance on firewood to help prevent deforestation.</p>



<p>Finally, ECOM is also supporting local nurseries to develop plants for on- and off-farm planting and distributing trees to further accelerate the transition to agroforestry. This will all be supported by a local plan to monitor and prevent deforestation. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2048" height="1356" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Peru-Forestry-2048x1356.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-18572" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Peru-Forestry-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Peru-Forestry-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Peru-Forestry-768x509.jpg 768w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Peru-Forestry-1536x1017.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: ECOM</figcaption></figure>



<p>Using the Cocoa DRA and complementary data and tools, ECOM will continue ongoing monitoring efforts aimed at identifying and preventing future deforestation. This is a great step in the right direction, but ultimately, companies like ECOM need more solutions that can encourage collaborative approaches and continued innovation that prioritizes the needs of cocoa farmers and their communities. Only then can we truly achieve deforestation-free supply chains.</p>



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Better Cocoa for the Planet: How ECOM is Reducing Deforestation in Their Supply Chain

<p>Cocoa production has been linked to high rates of deforestation and biodiversity loss, making it a significant contributor to environmental degradation. Addressing and mitigating these negative impacts is essential for achieving a more sustainable cocoa supply chain.</p>



<p>ECOM, one of the world’s largest cocoa traders and processors that sources from over 30 countries, has made it a priority to reduce the negative impacts from their operations. One way they are doing so is by applying a standardized methodology developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) to ensure the cocoa beans they use are sustainably sourced and are not linked to forest loss.</p>



<p>Recognizing that collective action is critical to ending deforestation and no one company can tackle the problem alone, ECOM joined the <a href="https://worldcocoafoundation.org/programmes-and-initiatives/cocoa-and-forests-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cocoa &amp; Forests Initiative</a> (CFI), facilitated by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), and established in 2017 with the aim of ending cocoa-driven deforestation and restoring forest areas. Companies that joined the CFI agreed to map their supply chains, align methodologies on deforestation risk assessment and contribute to transparent monitoring and reporting.</p>



<p>To support these efforts, World Resources Institute (WRI) partnered with WCF and 19 major cocoa and chocolate companies to create <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-tools/data-resources-ending-deforestation-cocoa-west-africa/">two data-driven resources</a> available on GFW — the <a href="https://gfw.global/4bEEES2">West Africa Cocoa dataset</a> and the <a href="https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::cocoa-deforestation-risk-assessment/about">Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment (DRA)</a> — that ECOM has adapted and scaled to additional regions to secure a more sustainable cocoa supply chain.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023.png" alt="" class="wp-image-16731"/></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Proactively identifying deforestation risk in cocoa supply chains</h2>



<p>Prior to the Cocoa DRA, ECOM relied on broader, less tailored tools such as national level risk assessments or global data sets like the ones available on GFW. With the release of the Cocoa DRA, ECOM was able to adapt <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/mapping-cocoa-assessing-deforestation-risk-cocoa-cote-divoire-ghana" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its methodology</a> to carry out widespread risk assessment in a standardized manner, expanding the model to other geographies and analyzing data from Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Nigeria, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Vietnam and Uganda.</p>



<p>The flexibility of the Cocoa DRA has enabled ECOM to leverage global data and peer-reviewed methods while supplementing these with their own farm boundary data and ground verification (which is an essential component of cocoa monitoring since satellites can have trouble detecting cocoa grown under shade canopies).</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Picture1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-18569"/></figure>



<p>Once high-risk areas have been identified, ECOM works with smallholder farmers to proactively tackle cocoa-linked deforestation, focusing on prevention through strategies like sensitization training or Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs. The focus on high-risk locations enables further engagement with farmers and remediation to avoid excluding them from the supply chain, which can lead to worse outcomes and accelerate deforestation.</p>



<p>For example, since 2021, ECOM has partnered with a customer and local farming communities in Ghana to promote agroforestry through a PES initiative. The program provides farmers with multi-purpose shade trees, and farmers receive financial incentives for maintaining these trees over three years, boosting adoption rates. To ensure the program's success and its meaningful contributions to local biodiversity and ecosystem health, ECOM conducted comprehensive land assessments prior to implementation. These assessments identified suitable tree species and accounted for farmers’ needs. The initiative includes training in Good Agricultural Practices, environmental stewardship and business management. A progress report due later in 2025 will highlight its impact on biodiversity and ecosystem health.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Ghana-SourceTrust-1-2048x1363.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-18570"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: ECOM</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Beyond regulatory compliance</h2>



<p>As the cocoa sector is focused on preparing for compliance with regulations like the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), it is crucial to recognize the continued importance of solutions and approaches that go beyond near-term compliance needs to effectively address sector-wide, systemic challenges.<strong></strong></p>



<p>While regulatory compliance assessments are focused on whether deforestation risk occurred after a given cut-off date, they often do not help identify future deforestation risk or inform collective action. The Cocoa DRA is intended to support better allocation of resources for halting deforestation and to enable collaborative approaches among cocoa supply chain actors where they’re most urgently needed to address deforestation.</p>



<p>For example, in Côte d’Ivoire, ECOM is using information gained from the Cocoa DRA to inform multiple efforts aiming to protect forests and support sustainability. In one project, they’re collaborating with the <a href="https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/32209.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Green Innovation Centre of GIZ</a>, the German Corporation for International Cooperation, to provide training and awareness-raising to help farmers adapt to climate change, build resilience and increase incomes through climate-smart cocoa and agroforestry. Around the protected areas of the Bossematié Nature Reserve and the Beki Classified Forest, ECOM is working to tackle deforestation and improve conservation by helping farmers in the forest buffer zone transition to agroforestry. They collaborated with GIZ to develop a management plan for the Reserve’s buffer zone and are now developing an incentive scheme based on carbon stocks and additional planting of trees for promoting agroforestry practices.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Cote-dIvoire-Daloa-2048x1365.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-18571"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: ECOM</figcaption></figure>



<p>Additionally, two briquette production units are being installed within two of ECOM’s partner cooperatives to promote the use of sustainable briquettes made from organic waste. This initiative aims to reduce reliance on firewood to help prevent deforestation.</p>



<p>Finally, ECOM is also supporting local nurseries to develop plants for on- and off-farm planting and distributing trees to further accelerate the transition to agroforestry. This will all be supported by a local plan to monitor and prevent deforestation. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Peru-Forestry-2048x1356.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-18572"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: ECOM</figcaption></figure>



<p>Using the Cocoa DRA and complementary data and tools, ECOM will continue ongoing monitoring efforts aimed at identifying and preventing future deforestation. This is a great step in the right direction, but ultimately, companies like ECOM need more solutions that can encourage collaborative approaches and continued innovation that prioritizes the needs of cocoa farmers and their communities. Only then can we truly achieve deforestation-free supply chains.</p>



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Cocoa trader ECOM shows how companies can use data-driven resources reduce deforestation in their cocoa supply chains.

Better Cocoa: How ECOM is Reducing Deforestation in Their Supply Chain

Comment

https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/be19f67e91ba81d93d32ae47706dcbb8?s=96&d=mm&r=g

Paige Johnson

Ripe Cocoa pods from a cocoa farm in Ghana.

Data &amp; Tools

Data &amp; Tools | Global Forest Watch Blog

mapping

mapping | Global Forest Watch Blog

<p>Martina Schneider is a GIS Analyst with Global Forest Watch. She supports the GFW team in preparing data and developing content for the GFW platform and web application.</p>



<p>As a graduate student, Martina specialized in applying GIS in the fields of environmental science and natural resources management. Specifically, she studied wildfire ecology and environmental factors that contribute to risk of ignition. In addition, Martina worked at Ducks Unlimited, the world's leader in wetland and waterfowl conservation, where she was part of a team updating the National Wetlands Inventory in Minnesota.</p>



<p>Martina holds an M.S. in Geographic Information Systems from Eastern Michigan University and a B.S. in Geography from Texas A&amp;M University.</p>



<p>She lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband and dog.</p>

Martina Schneider

Liz Goldman

<p>The global demand for chocolate has had a significant impact on West African forests. Approximately 70% of the global supply of cocoa originates from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where production sites have replaced millions of hectares of forest. Between 2001 and 2015 alone, <a href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/deforestation-agriculture#how-much-forest-has-been-replaced-by-cocoa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cocoa was linked to</a> the loss of a third of Ghana’s forest area and a quarter of Côte d’Ivoire’s.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/initiative/cocoa-forests-initiative/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI)</a>, facilitated by World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the <a href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH)</a>, was established in 2017 in an effort to end cocoa-driven deforestation and restore forest areas. Companies that joined the CFI agreed to map their supply chains, align methodologies on deforestation risk assessment and contribute to transparent monitoring and reporting. To support these efforts, World Resources Institute (WRI) partnered with WCF and 19 major cocoa and chocolate companies to create two new resources:*</p>



<ul>
<li>The <strong>West Africa Cocoa dataset (WAC)</strong>, a database of mapped cocoa plot boundaries in the direct supply chains of participating companies that provides an extensive view of mapped cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The public version of the dataset is <a href="https://gfw.global/4bEEES2">available on Global Forest Watch (GFW)</a> as a cocoa plot heat map that further anonymizes data to protect the privacy of farmers and companies.</li>



<li>The <strong>Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment (Cocoa DRA)</strong>, a map that provides a standardized view of cocoa-driven deforestation risk across the cocoa growing region of these two countries. The <a href="https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::cocoa-deforestation-risk-assessment/about">Cocoa DRA map layer</a> is available for download on GFW.</li>
</ul>



<p>These resources are the result of an unprecedented collaboration among companies to share highly sensitive cocoa plot data, and an extensive ethics and legal review to ensure the protection of farmers’ data throughout the process. For the first time, companies and other stakeholders in the cocoa sector have a shared view of priority areas in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire for coordinated efforts toward a deforestation-free cocoa sector.</p>



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<aside id="textbox"><em><b>From Palm Oil to Cocoa</b><p></p>
The development of the WAC and the Cocoa DRA builds on the success of similar products developed to support the palm oil sector: the <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/commodities/improved-universal-mill-list-expands-partnerships-improves-transparency-in-palm-oil-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Universal Mill List (UML)</a>, a harmonized database of palm oil mill locations, and the <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/palm-risk-assessment-methodology-prioritizing-areas-landscapes-and-mills" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Palm Risk Tool</a>, a method of identifying deforestation risks in their vicinity. However, differing supply chain dynamics between palm oil and cocoa were considered, such as:<li>
The locations of palm oil mills in the UML are represented as points while the cocoa plots in the WAC are represented by polygons. Further, the UML maps industrial scale infrastructure, whereas the WAC maps smallholder production. This raised additional privacy concerns, and steps were taken to avoid violating farmer privacy and safeguarding farmer livelihoods.<li>
The Palm Risk Tool analyzes deforestation risk by creating a buffer around each mill point to estimate a potential sourcing area. Oil palm fruit must be delivered to a mill quickly or the quality of the oil will decrease. This places a geographic constraint on how far oil palm fruit can travel to a mill, and stakeholders in the sector rely on a standardized sourcing radius of 50-km for their risk assessments. Cocoa does not have a geographic constraint nor an agreed upon estimation of a sourcing area, meaning that cocoa collected at a central point of purchase could have been grown anywhere in these two countries.<li>
The Palm Risk Tool was developed to assess deforestation risks in the vicinity of a specific type of infrastructure: palm oil mills. The Cocoa DRA was developed to be more flexible, enabling analysis of multiple areas of interest such as the plots in the WAC, cooperatives or other types of collection points and/or warehouses.<ul>

</em> </aside>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1175" height="783" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-pod.jpg" alt="Cocoa pod" class="wp-image-16723" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-pod.jpg 1175w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-pod-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-pod-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1175px) 100vw, 1175px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cocoa pod. Credit: Caroline Winchester, WRI.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>What is the West Africa</strong> <strong>Cocoa dataset?</strong></h2>



<p>The West Africa Cocoa dataset (WAC) aggregates data from 2021 on cocoa plot locations (a cocoa plot is a subset of a cocoa farm, and a single farm may be represented by multiple plots) in the direct supply chains of 19 cocoa and chocolate companies operating in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Project participants developed and agreed on a data collation protocol and data sharing agreement that outlined submission requirements and the procedure for cleaning and aggregating individual company data sets. To be included in the WAC, each plot had to be current, actively growing cocoa and occupying a single parcel of land. WRI then reviewed, cleaned and aggregated the data.</p>



<p>While the cocoa plot polygon data is considered sensitive and will not be available publicly (see more below), we visualized the data as a heat map, <a href="https://gfw.global/4bEEES2">available on GFW</a>, which avoids disclosing the precise boundaries of the plots in the WAC while giving users access to information on the approximate location of cocoa plots. Additionally, we distributed the plot data to impartial research institutions for use as training data to create derivative products; specifically, public cocoa production extent maps.</p>



<p>These strategies make the data publicly available to support companies and other users in more robust cocoa mapping and monitoring while safeguarding the privacy of individual farmers.</p>



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<aside id="textbox"><em><b>Protecting the Privacy of Cocoa Farmers and Companies</b><p></p>

The raw data used to create the WAC included sensitive supply chain information from both companies and farmers. Cocoa is primarily grown by smallholder farmers who live near the cocoa plots they manage. A public release of this raw data would show the boundaries of specific cocoa plots and could allow individual farmers and their homes to be identified. Further, since there are over 2 million farmers across West Africa, it is difficult to know whether they are all fully aware of how data pertaining to them is being used. <br><br>
To protect farmer and company privacy, the WAC data collection protocol and data sharing agreement were informed by an ethics review to ensure that potentially sensitive information was respected and handled properly, and by a legal review to ensure the data privacy laws of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire were followed. Based off these reviews, and in order to protect farmer privacy, no personal data was included in the WAC or shared with WRI, and a secure method of transferring data among all parties was established. With farmer privacy in mind, the parties involved also decided that precise locations of cocoa plot boundaries would not be made publicly available.

</em> </aside>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What is the Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment?</h2>



<p>The Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment (Cocoa DRA) is a map that assesses the risk of future deforestation due to new or expanding cocoa production. The Cocoa DRA aligns various methods for assessing risk to provide a standardized view that companies and other stakeholders can use to make decisions around reducing deforestation. It can be used to proactively and efficiently identify deforestation risk across a supply chain that includes tens of thousands of geographically dispersed producers. Once risk has been identified, Cocoa DRA users can implement interventions for promoting sustainable production, protecting remaining forest cover and improving farmer livelihoods.</p>



<p>To create the map, we analyzed spatial variables that influence cocoa-linked deforestation including recent forest loss, proximity to cocoa, accessibility and suitability for cocoa production. The present-day extent of natural forest was approximated using the University of Maryland’s <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1244693" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tree canopy cover</a> data set and removing cocoa plots mapped in the WAC, <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/13/1211/2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other data sets</a> that <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/spatial-database-planted-trees-sdpt-version-10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">map planted trees</a> and historic tree cover loss.</p>



<p>Primary and intact forests in West Africa are limited, so to ensure the Cocoa DRA comprehensively assesses where future cocoa-linked deforestation is likely to occur in <em>all</em> natural forests, its scope includes natural forests both inside and outside of protected areas as well as naturally regenerating forests.</p>



<p>The Cocoa DRA translates risk into five priority rankings at a 1-km resolution (high, mid-high, medium, mid-low and low priority) indicating the likelihood of future deforestation associated with cocoa production. Cocoa DRA users can assess risk at different scales, including groups of farms, supply sheds around cocoa bean collection points and other types of landscapes.</p>



<p>Users can download the <a href="https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::cocoa-deforestation-risk-assessment/about">Cocoa DRA map layer</a> on GFW.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What have we learned from the WAC and Cocoa DRA?</h2>



<p>Across Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the WAC maps 840,000 unique cocoa plots in 2021. Though cocoa plots tend to be small (most plots were between 1 to 2 hectares), the plots included in the WAC cover approximately 1.5 million hectares of planted cocoa area.</p>



<p>Cocoa plot data is most comprehensive in western Côte d’Ivoire as well as near the shared border between Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The forests in these areas have been <a href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/deforestation-agriculture#how-much-forest-has-been-replaced-by-cocoa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">particularly impacted by cocoa production</a>. We found that the Cocoa DRA showed that these same regions had a significant amount of high priority areas (areas with higher likelihood of future cocoa-related deforestation). This is most evident in Côte d’Ivoire near the border of Liberia, while in western Ghana the landscape is more mixed.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1430" height="868" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023.png" alt="Cocoa deforestation risk assessment priority map for 2023" class="wp-image-16731" style="aspect-ratio:1.6474654377880185;width:840px;height:auto" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023.png 1430w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023-1024x622.png 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023-768x466.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1430px) 100vw, 1430px" /></figure>



<p>While creating the Cocoa DRA, we found that proximity to recent loss was an important predictor of future deforestation risk. The influence of this variable is most evident in several high-interest protected areas where, presumably due to effective legal protection, forest loss has been prevented in their boundaries. Because these forests have experienced less loss compared to the surrounding landscape, this resulted in a low priority ranking for the areas.</p>



<p>A good example of this is Taï National Park in western Côte d’Ivoire, which contains the only remaining intact forest within the study area. This is notable because the park is located within a region of Côte d’Ivoire where forests have been significantly impacted by cocoa production. A similar example is Bia National Park in western Ghana, which contains primary forest that has experienced low rates of forest loss compared to the surrounding landscape.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2048" height="1448" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tai-and-bia_labels-1-2048x1448.png" alt="Cocoa deforestation risk assessment priority ranking map (2023) showing protected areas" class="wp-image-16750" srcset="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tai-and-bia_labels-1-2048x1448.png 2048w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tai-and-bia_labels-1-1024x724.png 1024w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tai-and-bia_labels-1-768x543.png 768w, https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tai-and-bia_labels-1-1536x1086.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /></figure>



<p>That being said, additional data on legal status and conservation value provides important contextual information and we recommend users consider this data when using the Cocoa DRA for prioritizing engagement activities and supply chain interventions. &nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Driving collective action: How companies and others can use the WAC and Cocoa DRA</h2>



<p>Used together, the WAC and the Cocoa DRA can inform decision making and coordinated action to reduce cocoa-driven deforestation. These resources also have utility beyond the scope of the CFI. For example, the public WAC heat map of cocoa plots may be used alongside near-real-time alerts to identify deforestation in cocoa production landscapes, or as a resource to collectively assess the industry’s progress towards ending deforestation. Use of the WAC as training data to develop public cocoa extent maps will also shed light on production across West Africa. Such accessible and holistic extent data is essential for stakeholders striving to tackle cocoa-driven deforestation.</p>



<p>For companies and farmers seeking to comply with the EUDR, the WAC and Cocoa DRA can also be valuable tools. The risk map can enable companies and other stakeholders to identify high-priority landscapes and prevent deforestation before it happens. To achieve this, engagement with farmers in high priority areas will be needed, enabling them to protect remaining forests while safeguarding their livelihoods. The risk map and WAC can also help companies determine where to prioritize further cocoa plot data collection efforts. High priority areas where the WAC shows a lack of mapped cocoa plots is a good indication of where such efforts are needed for enabling compliance with the EUDR’s geolocation requirement. This data will also be key for enabling inclusion of smallholder farmers in the EU market.</p>



<p>As public resources that provide stakeholders with a shared understanding of where it’s most urgent to address deforestation while respecting farmer privacy, the WAC and Cocoa DRA can help realize a more sustainable cocoa sector. Through this collective knowledge, stakeholders can more easily form collaborative approaches to eliminate cocoa-driven deforestation. Furthermore, through ongoing updates based on best available data, both resources can remain a public good and contribute to transparent monitoring of the cocoa sector.</p>



<small><em>* Development of these products was also informed by preliminary research carried out by Climate Focus on other methods of assessing deforestation risk associated cocoa.</small></em><br><br>



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Ending Deforestation from Cocoa in West Africa with New Data-Driven Resources

<p>The global demand for chocolate has had a significant impact on West African forests. Approximately 70% of the global supply of cocoa originates from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where production sites have replaced millions of hectares of forest. Between 2001 and 2015 alone, <a href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/deforestation-agriculture#how-much-forest-has-been-replaced-by-cocoa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cocoa was linked to</a> the loss of a third of Ghana’s forest area and a quarter of Côte d’Ivoire’s.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/initiative/cocoa-forests-initiative/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cocoa &amp; Forests Initiative (CFI)</a>, facilitated by World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the <a href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH)</a>, was established in 2017 in an effort to end cocoa-driven deforestation and restore forest areas. Companies that joined the CFI agreed to map their supply chains, align methodologies on deforestation risk assessment and contribute to transparent monitoring and reporting. To support these efforts, World Resources Institute (WRI) partnered with WCF and 19 major cocoa and chocolate companies to create two new resources:*</p>



<ul>
<li>The <strong>West Africa Cocoa dataset (WAC)</strong>, a database of mapped cocoa plot boundaries in the direct supply chains of participating companies that provides an extensive view of mapped cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The public version of the dataset is <a href="https://gfw.global/4bEEES2">available on Global Forest Watch (GFW)</a> as a cocoa plot heat map that further anonymizes data to protect the privacy of farmers and companies.</li>



<li>The <strong>Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment (Cocoa DRA)</strong>, a map that provides a standardized view of cocoa-driven deforestation risk across the cocoa growing region of these two countries. The <a href="https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::cocoa-deforestation-risk-assessment/about">Cocoa DRA map layer</a> is available for download on GFW.</li>
</ul>



<p>These resources are the result of an unprecedented collaboration among companies to share highly sensitive cocoa plot data, and an extensive ethics and legal review to ensure the protection of farmers’ data throughout the process. For the first time, companies and other stakeholders in the cocoa sector have a shared view of priority areas in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire for coordinated efforts toward a deforestation-free cocoa sector.</p>



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<aside id="textbox"><em><b>From Palm Oil to Cocoa</b><p></p>
The development of the WAC and the Cocoa DRA builds on the success of similar products developed to support the palm oil sector: the <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/commodities/improved-universal-mill-list-expands-partnerships-improves-transparency-in-palm-oil-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Universal Mill List (UML)</a>, a harmonized database of palm oil mill locations, and the <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/palm-risk-assessment-methodology-prioritizing-areas-landscapes-and-mills" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Palm Risk Tool</a>, a method of identifying deforestation risks in their vicinity. However, differing supply chain dynamics between palm oil and cocoa were considered, such as:<li>
The locations of palm oil mills in the UML are represented as points while the cocoa plots in the WAC are represented by polygons. Further, the UML maps industrial scale infrastructure, whereas the WAC maps smallholder production. This raised additional privacy concerns, and steps were taken to avoid violating farmer privacy and safeguarding farmer livelihoods.<li>
The Palm Risk Tool analyzes deforestation risk by creating a buffer around each mill point to estimate a potential sourcing area. Oil palm fruit must be delivered to a mill quickly or the quality of the oil will decrease. This places a geographic constraint on how far oil palm fruit can travel to a mill, and stakeholders in the sector rely on a standardized sourcing radius of 50-km for their risk assessments. Cocoa does not have a geographic constraint nor an agreed upon estimation of a sourcing area, meaning that cocoa collected at a central point of purchase could have been grown anywhere in these two countries.<li>
The Palm Risk Tool was developed to assess deforestation risks in the vicinity of a specific type of infrastructure: palm oil mills. The Cocoa DRA was developed to be more flexible, enabling analysis of multiple areas of interest such as the plots in the WAC, cooperatives or other types of collection points and/or warehouses.<ul>

</em> </aside>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-pod.jpg" alt="Cocoa pod" class="wp-image-16723"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cocoa pod. Credit: Caroline Winchester, WRI.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>What is the West Africa</strong> <strong>Cocoa dataset?</strong></h2>



<p>The West Africa Cocoa dataset (WAC) aggregates data from 2021 on cocoa plot locations (a cocoa plot is a subset of a cocoa farm, and a single farm may be represented by multiple plots) in the direct supply chains of 19 cocoa and chocolate companies operating in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Project participants developed and agreed on a data collation protocol and data sharing agreement that outlined submission requirements and the procedure for cleaning and aggregating individual company data sets. To be included in the WAC, each plot had to be current, actively growing cocoa and occupying a single parcel of land. WRI then reviewed, cleaned and aggregated the data.</p>



<p>While the cocoa plot polygon data is considered sensitive and will not be available publicly (see more below), we visualized the data as a heat map, <a href="https://gfw.global/4bEEES2">available on GFW</a>, which avoids disclosing the precise boundaries of the plots in the WAC while giving users access to information on the approximate location of cocoa plots. Additionally, we distributed the plot data to impartial research institutions for use as training data to create derivative products; specifically, public cocoa production extent maps.</p>



<p>These strategies make the data publicly available to support companies and other users in more robust cocoa mapping and monitoring while safeguarding the privacy of individual farmers.</p>



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<aside id="textbox"><em><b>Protecting the Privacy of Cocoa Farmers and Companies</b><p></p>

The raw data used to create the WAC included sensitive supply chain information from both companies and farmers. Cocoa is primarily grown by smallholder farmers who live near the cocoa plots they manage. A public release of this raw data would show the boundaries of specific cocoa plots and could allow individual farmers and their homes to be identified. Further, since there are over 2 million farmers across West Africa, it is difficult to know whether they are all fully aware of how data pertaining to them is being used. <br><br>
To protect farmer and company privacy, the WAC data collection protocol and data sharing agreement were informed by an ethics review to ensure that potentially sensitive information was respected and handled properly, and by a legal review to ensure the data privacy laws of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire were followed. Based off these reviews, and in order to protect farmer privacy, no personal data was included in the WAC or shared with WRI, and a secure method of transferring data among all parties was established. With farmer privacy in mind, the parties involved also decided that precise locations of cocoa plot boundaries would not be made publicly available.

</em> </aside>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What is the Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment?</h2>



<p>The Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment (Cocoa DRA) is a map that assesses the risk of future deforestation due to new or expanding cocoa production. The Cocoa DRA aligns various methods for assessing risk to provide a standardized view that companies and other stakeholders can use to make decisions around reducing deforestation. It can be used to proactively and efficiently identify deforestation risk across a supply chain that includes tens of thousands of geographically dispersed producers. Once risk has been identified, Cocoa DRA users can implement interventions for promoting sustainable production, protecting remaining forest cover and improving farmer livelihoods.</p>



<p>To create the map, we analyzed spatial variables that influence cocoa-linked deforestation including recent forest loss, proximity to cocoa, accessibility and suitability for cocoa production. The present-day extent of natural forest was approximated using the University of Maryland’s <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1244693" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tree canopy cover</a> data set and removing cocoa plots mapped in the WAC, <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/13/1211/2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other data sets</a> that <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/spatial-database-planted-trees-sdpt-version-10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">map planted trees</a> and historic tree cover loss.</p>



<p>Primary and intact forests in West Africa are limited, so to ensure the Cocoa DRA comprehensively assesses where future cocoa-linked deforestation is likely to occur in <em>all</em> natural forests, its scope includes natural forests both inside and outside of protected areas as well as naturally regenerating forests.</p>



<p>The Cocoa DRA translates risk into five priority rankings at a 1-km resolution (high, mid-high, medium, mid-low and low priority) indicating the likelihood of future deforestation associated with cocoa production. Cocoa DRA users can assess risk at different scales, including groups of farms, supply sheds around cocoa bean collection points and other types of landscapes.</p>



<p>Users can download the <a href="https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::cocoa-deforestation-risk-assessment/about">Cocoa DRA map layer</a> on GFW.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What have we learned from the WAC and Cocoa DRA?</h2>



<p>Across Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the WAC maps 840,000 unique cocoa plots in 2021. Though cocoa plots tend to be small (most plots were between 1 to 2 hectares), the plots included in the WAC cover approximately 1.5 million hectares of planted cocoa area.</p>



<p>Cocoa plot data is most comprehensive in western Côte d’Ivoire as well as near the shared border between Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The forests in these areas have been <a href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/deforestation-agriculture#how-much-forest-has-been-replaced-by-cocoa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">particularly impacted by cocoa production</a>. We found that the Cocoa DRA showed that these same regions had a significant amount of high priority areas (areas with higher likelihood of future cocoa-related deforestation). This is most evident in Côte d’Ivoire near the border of Liberia, while in western Ghana the landscape is more mixed.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Cocoa-Deforestation-Risk-Assessment-Priority-2023.png" alt="Cocoa deforestation risk assessment priority map for 2023" class="wp-image-16731" style="aspect-ratio:1.6474654377880185;width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p>While creating the Cocoa DRA, we found that proximity to recent loss was an important predictor of future deforestation risk. The influence of this variable is most evident in several high-interest protected areas where, presumably due to effective legal protection, forest loss has been prevented in their boundaries. Because these forests have experienced less loss compared to the surrounding landscape, this resulted in a low priority ranking for the areas.</p>



<p>A good example of this is Taï National Park in western Côte d’Ivoire, which contains the only remaining intact forest within the study area. This is notable because the park is located within a region of Côte d’Ivoire where forests have been significantly impacted by cocoa production. A similar example is Bia National Park in western Ghana, which contains primary forest that has experienced low rates of forest loss compared to the surrounding landscape.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tai-and-bia_labels-1-2048x1448.png" alt="Cocoa deforestation risk assessment priority ranking map (2023) showing protected areas" class="wp-image-16750"/></figure>



<p>That being said, additional data on legal status and conservation value provides important contextual information and we recommend users consider this data when using the Cocoa DRA for prioritizing engagement activities and supply chain interventions. &nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Driving collective action: How companies and others can use the WAC and Cocoa DRA</h2>



<p>Used together, the WAC and the Cocoa DRA can inform decision making and coordinated action to reduce cocoa-driven deforestation. These resources also have utility beyond the scope of the CFI. For example, the public WAC heat map of cocoa plots may be used alongside near-real-time alerts to identify deforestation in cocoa production landscapes, or as a resource to collectively assess the industry’s progress towards ending deforestation. Use of the WAC as training data to develop public cocoa extent maps will also shed light on production across West Africa. Such accessible and holistic extent data is essential for stakeholders striving to tackle cocoa-driven deforestation.</p>



<p>For companies and farmers seeking to comply with the EUDR, the WAC and Cocoa DRA can also be valuable tools. The risk map can enable companies and other stakeholders to identify high-priority landscapes and prevent deforestation before it happens. To achieve this, engagement with farmers in high priority areas will be needed, enabling them to protect remaining forests while safeguarding their livelihoods. The risk map and WAC can also help companies determine where to prioritize further cocoa plot data collection efforts. High priority areas where the WAC shows a lack of mapped cocoa plots is a good indication of where such efforts are needed for enabling compliance with the EUDR’s geolocation requirement. This data will also be key for enabling inclusion of smallholder farmers in the EU market.</p>



<p>As public resources that provide stakeholders with a shared understanding of where it’s most urgent to address deforestation while respecting farmer privacy, the WAC and Cocoa DRA can help realize a more sustainable cocoa sector. Through this collective knowledge, stakeholders can more easily form collaborative approaches to eliminate cocoa-driven deforestation. Furthermore, through ongoing updates based on best available data, both resources can remain a public good and contribute to transparent monitoring of the cocoa sector.</p>



<small><em>* Development of these products was also informed by preliminary research carried out by Climate Focus on other methods of assessing deforestation risk associated cocoa.</small></em><br><br>



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Two new data-driven resources provide a shared view of priority areas in West Africa and can help realize a a deforestation-free cocoa sector.

Ending Deforestation from Cocoa in West Africa | GFW Blog

<p>Ever wonder where the chocolate in your&nbsp;candy bar&nbsp;came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances are your midnight&nbsp;snack started&nbsp;out&nbsp;as a seed pod&nbsp;growing on a cocoa farm in West Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa pod" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5732.jpg" width="100%">Chocolate is made by fermenting and drying the seeds of the cocoa pod. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. </div>



<p>West Africa is also home to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://bit.ly/2T5ifsf" target="_blank">Upper Guinean rainforest</a>, and like many other&nbsp;tropical&nbsp;areas&nbsp;where&nbsp;commodities&nbsp;compete with the environment for land,&nbsp;these forests have been threatened by the growth of the cocoa industry.&nbsp;Between 1988 and 2007 it is estimated that&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/317701513577699790/Forest-and-climate-smart-cocoa-in-C%C3%B4te-D-Ivoire-and-Ghana-aligning-stakeholders-to-support-smallholders-in-deforestation-free-cocoa" target="_blank">2.3 million hectares</a>&nbsp;of the Upper Guinean rainforest were cleared to make way for&nbsp;cocoa farms.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;in 2017 the cocoa&nbsp;sector&nbsp;followed the&nbsp;example&nbsp;of commodities such as palm oil and soy in&nbsp;committing&nbsp;to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains&nbsp;through the launch of the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/" target="_blank">Cocoa & Forests Initiative</a>&nbsp;(CFI).</p>



<p>The&nbsp;CFI&nbsp;is&nbsp;led by&nbsp;the World Cocoa Foundation,&nbsp;IDH&nbsp;the Sustainable Trade Initiative&nbsp;and The Prince&nbsp;of Wales’&nbsp;International Sustainability Unit.&nbsp;This initiative&nbsp;covers an estimated 80&nbsp;percent&nbsp;of global cocoa usage and represents&nbsp;a&nbsp;pledge by&nbsp;both&nbsp;Ghana and&nbsp;Côte d’Ivoire&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;key cocoa and chocolate companies,&nbsp;to end deforestation and forest degradation&nbsp;from&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;on any forested&nbsp;land. Specific&nbsp;areas to be protected, including&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks, are laid&nbsp;out&nbsp;within&nbsp;the&nbsp;Frameworks&nbsp;for Action for&nbsp;both countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>While&nbsp;this&nbsp;commitment is an impressive&nbsp;first step, it&nbsp;is only half the battle. In order to manage&nbsp;deforestation, CFI signatories&nbsp;must be able to&nbsp;detect where cocoa farms are expanding into&nbsp;forested&nbsp;lands&nbsp;so they can take appropriate mitigation&nbsp;measures.&nbsp;As part of the agreement,&nbsp;signatories committed to transparent satellite-based monitoring&nbsp;systems&nbsp;and publicly&nbsp;disclosed&nbsp;reports&nbsp;on progress&nbsp;towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;commitment to halt deforestation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The World Resources&nbsp;Institute&nbsp;(WRI)&nbsp;has coordinated closely with&nbsp;the initiative&nbsp;to provide support on defining the needs of&nbsp;these&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;systems, including&nbsp;datasets&nbsp;able to&nbsp;differentiate areas of cocoa production from&nbsp;natural forest&nbsp;and&nbsp;datasets which&nbsp;delineate the boundaries of&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks&nbsp;amongst&nbsp;other&nbsp;ecologically important areas.&nbsp;In addition to&nbsp;relevant datasets,&nbsp;a successful monitoring system needs&nbsp;a platform&nbsp;that&nbsp;can&nbsp;analyze and&nbsp;visualize&nbsp;this&nbsp;data&nbsp;to determine&nbsp;whether progress&nbsp;and key outcomes are&nbsp;being achieved. Such monitoring platforms are necessary at both&nbsp;the&nbsp;national&nbsp;scale to enable monitoring by governments, and&nbsp;supply chain scale for&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;by&nbsp;companies.</p>



<div class="imageleft"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa Farmer" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5696.jpg" width="100%">Most cocoa farms in West Africa are small-scale. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI </div>



<p>What makes&nbsp;effective cocoa monitoring tricky however, is the way in which&nbsp;it is&nbsp;grown.&nbsp;Cocoa pods grow on trees&nbsp;and&nbsp;can be&nbsp;produced&nbsp;either in&nbsp;full&nbsp;sun&nbsp;or&nbsp;under the shade of larger trees.&nbsp;In addition,&nbsp;most cocoa operations are small-scale — an average cocoa farm in West Africa ranges in size from two to five hectares.&nbsp;This means that the spatial patterns that make a non-tree crop (like soy) more identifiable from above are much harder to detect for cocoa. Because of this,&nbsp;developing an automated and cost-efficient method of detecting and differentiating these farms&nbsp;is&nbsp;complicated.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Since 2017,&nbsp;WRI has directly supported&nbsp;cocoa and chocolate companies&nbsp;through its supply chain monitoring platform&nbsp;<a href="https://pro.globalforestwatch.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Forest Watch&nbsp;Pro</a>&nbsp;(GFW Pro).&nbsp;The&nbsp;online&nbsp;platform&nbsp;allows&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;securely manage deforestation risk and track progress towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;no-deforestation goals.&nbsp;It&nbsp;enables&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;log&nbsp;into a private account,&nbsp;plot the location of thousands of farms and&nbsp;analyze these farms in relation to&nbsp;contextual information like&nbsp;tree cover loss&nbsp;and&nbsp;protected&nbsp;forests.&nbsp;This&nbsp;system&nbsp;has enabled companies&nbsp;including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cargill.com/story/tackling-deforestation-with-data-cargill-maps-its-cocoa-supply?sf207560365=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cargill</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cocoalife.org/the-program/climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mondelez</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;prioritize&nbsp;engagement in&nbsp;risky areas&nbsp;where cocoa farms might exist near&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks or&nbsp;other protected areas.&nbsp;Companies can also produce reports&nbsp;for public disclosure in support of their sustainable cocoa policies&nbsp;and commitments.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>GFW Pro also has the potential to&nbsp;support fully&nbsp;compliant CFI monitoring. Technology providers&nbsp;have begun to&nbsp;develop maps&nbsp;detailing&nbsp;areas of cocoa production, and WRI is working with these providers and CFI stakeholders&nbsp;in West Africa to assess options for integrating these maps and other national and regional datasets into GFW Pro&nbsp;to better meet the cocoa sector’s needs.</p>



<p>At present,&nbsp;GFW Pro is&nbsp;operating&nbsp;in a&nbsp;preview&nbsp;period&nbsp;during which WRI is working with over 50&nbsp;partners to&nbsp;perfect the&nbsp;system&nbsp;before a&nbsp;public launch later this year. After public&nbsp;launch,&nbsp;supply chain actors around the globe will be able to&nbsp;create&nbsp;accounts and begin managing deforestation risk.&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="EG Forest Atlas" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Forest-Atlas.png" width="100%"> Forest Atlases are customizable in order to best suit each country’s needs. </div>



<p>A model like<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" WRI’s Forest Atlas (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/forest-atlases" target="_blank"> WRI’s Forest Atlas</a>, which provides freely accessible infrastructure for online platforms that are hosted within and owned by national institutions, offers a solution for cocoa monitoring at a national scale. By combining official government data on land use with national and global datasets on forest change, this platform could enable CFI monitoring and management by governments. </p>



<p>The CFI’s industry wide commitment&nbsp;to collaborative&nbsp;and&nbsp;robust monitoring solutions is a commendable first step&nbsp;in combatting deforestation.&nbsp;With monitoring systems in place, CFI signatories will be able to&nbsp;effectively&nbsp;measure and&nbsp;manage&nbsp;impacts from the cocoa sector. WRI looks forward to continuing to support&nbsp;positive change&nbsp;for&nbsp;West Africa and&nbsp;around the globe,&nbsp;so that consumers can rest easy knowing no forests were harmed in the making of that chocolate bar.&nbsp;</p>



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BANNER PHOTO: Cocoa beans on a farm in Ghana. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. 


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Keeping an Eye on Cocoa: Satellite Monitoring Provides Key Support on No Deforestation Commitments

<p>Ever wonder where the chocolate in your&nbsp;candy bar&nbsp;came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances are your midnight&nbsp;snack started&nbsp;out&nbsp;as a seed pod&nbsp;growing on a cocoa farm in West Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa pod" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5732.jpg" width="100%">Chocolate is made by fermenting and drying the seeds of the cocoa pod. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. </div>



<p>West Africa is also home to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://bit.ly/2T5ifsf" target="_blank">Upper Guinean rainforest</a>, and like many other&nbsp;tropical&nbsp;areas&nbsp;where&nbsp;commodities&nbsp;compete with the environment for land,&nbsp;these forests have been threatened by the growth of the cocoa industry.&nbsp;Between 1988 and 2007 it is estimated that&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/317701513577699790/Forest-and-climate-smart-cocoa-in-C%C3%B4te-D-Ivoire-and-Ghana-aligning-stakeholders-to-support-smallholders-in-deforestation-free-cocoa" target="_blank">2.3 million hectares</a>&nbsp;of the Upper Guinean rainforest were cleared to make way for&nbsp;cocoa farms.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;in 2017 the cocoa&nbsp;sector&nbsp;followed the&nbsp;example&nbsp;of commodities such as palm oil and soy in&nbsp;committing&nbsp;to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains&nbsp;through the launch of the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/" target="_blank">Cocoa &amp; Forests Initiative</a>&nbsp;(CFI).</p>



<p>The&nbsp;CFI&nbsp;is&nbsp;led by&nbsp;the World Cocoa Foundation,&nbsp;IDH&nbsp;the Sustainable Trade Initiative&nbsp;and The Prince&nbsp;of Wales’&nbsp;International Sustainability Unit.&nbsp;This initiative&nbsp;covers an estimated 80&nbsp;percent&nbsp;of global cocoa usage and represents&nbsp;a&nbsp;pledge by&nbsp;both&nbsp;Ghana and&nbsp;Côte d’Ivoire&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;key cocoa and chocolate companies,&nbsp;to end deforestation and forest degradation&nbsp;from&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;on any forested&nbsp;land. Specific&nbsp;areas to be protected, including&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks, are laid&nbsp;out&nbsp;within&nbsp;the&nbsp;Frameworks&nbsp;for Action for&nbsp;both countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>While&nbsp;this&nbsp;commitment is an impressive&nbsp;first step, it&nbsp;is only half the battle. In order to manage&nbsp;deforestation, CFI signatories&nbsp;must be able to&nbsp;detect where cocoa farms are expanding into&nbsp;forested&nbsp;lands&nbsp;so they can take appropriate mitigation&nbsp;measures.&nbsp;As part of the agreement,&nbsp;signatories committed to transparent satellite-based monitoring&nbsp;systems&nbsp;and publicly&nbsp;disclosed&nbsp;reports&nbsp;on progress&nbsp;towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;commitment to halt deforestation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The World Resources&nbsp;Institute&nbsp;(WRI)&nbsp;has coordinated closely with&nbsp;the initiative&nbsp;to provide support on defining the needs of&nbsp;these&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;systems, including&nbsp;datasets&nbsp;able to&nbsp;differentiate areas of cocoa production from&nbsp;natural forest&nbsp;and&nbsp;datasets which&nbsp;delineate the boundaries of&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks&nbsp;amongst&nbsp;other&nbsp;ecologically important areas.&nbsp;In addition to&nbsp;relevant datasets,&nbsp;a successful monitoring system needs&nbsp;a platform&nbsp;that&nbsp;can&nbsp;analyze and&nbsp;visualize&nbsp;this&nbsp;data&nbsp;to determine&nbsp;whether progress&nbsp;and key outcomes are&nbsp;being achieved. Such monitoring platforms are necessary at both&nbsp;the&nbsp;national&nbsp;scale to enable monitoring by governments, and&nbsp;supply chain scale for&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;by&nbsp;companies.</p>



<div class="imageleft"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa Farmer" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5696.jpg" width="100%">Most cocoa farms in West Africa are small-scale. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI </div>



<p>What makes&nbsp;effective cocoa monitoring tricky however, is the way in which&nbsp;it is&nbsp;grown.&nbsp;Cocoa pods grow on trees&nbsp;and&nbsp;can be&nbsp;produced&nbsp;either in&nbsp;full&nbsp;sun&nbsp;or&nbsp;under the shade of larger trees.&nbsp;In addition,&nbsp;most cocoa operations are small-scale — an average cocoa farm in West Africa ranges in size from two to five hectares.&nbsp;This means that the spatial patterns that make a non-tree crop (like soy) more identifiable from above are much harder to detect for cocoa. Because of this,&nbsp;developing an automated and cost-efficient method of detecting and differentiating these farms&nbsp;is&nbsp;complicated.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Since 2017,&nbsp;WRI has directly supported&nbsp;cocoa and chocolate companies&nbsp;through its supply chain monitoring platform&nbsp;<a href="https://pro.globalforestwatch.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Forest Watch&nbsp;Pro</a>&nbsp;(GFW Pro).&nbsp;The&nbsp;online&nbsp;platform&nbsp;allows&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;securely manage deforestation risk and track progress towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;no-deforestation goals.&nbsp;It&nbsp;enables&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;log&nbsp;into a private account,&nbsp;plot the location of thousands of farms and&nbsp;analyze these farms in relation to&nbsp;contextual information like&nbsp;tree cover loss&nbsp;and&nbsp;protected&nbsp;forests.&nbsp;This&nbsp;system&nbsp;has enabled companies&nbsp;including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cargill.com/story/tackling-deforestation-with-data-cargill-maps-its-cocoa-supply?sf207560365=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cargill</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cocoalife.org/the-program/climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mondelez</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;prioritize&nbsp;engagement in&nbsp;risky areas&nbsp;where cocoa farms might exist near&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks or&nbsp;other protected areas.&nbsp;Companies can also produce reports&nbsp;for public disclosure in support of their sustainable cocoa policies&nbsp;and commitments.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>GFW Pro also has the potential to&nbsp;support fully&nbsp;compliant CFI monitoring. Technology providers&nbsp;have begun to&nbsp;develop maps&nbsp;detailing&nbsp;areas of cocoa production, and WRI is working with these providers and CFI stakeholders&nbsp;in West Africa to assess options for integrating these maps and other national and regional datasets into GFW Pro&nbsp;to better meet the cocoa sector’s needs.</p>



<p>At present,&nbsp;GFW Pro is&nbsp;operating&nbsp;in a&nbsp;preview&nbsp;period&nbsp;during which WRI is working with over 50&nbsp;partners to&nbsp;perfect the&nbsp;system&nbsp;before a&nbsp;public launch later this year. After public&nbsp;launch,&nbsp;supply chain actors around the globe will be able to&nbsp;create&nbsp;accounts and begin managing deforestation risk.&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="EG Forest Atlas" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Forest-Atlas.png" width="100%"> Forest Atlases are customizable in order to best suit each country's needs. </div>



<p>A model like<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" WRI’s Forest Atlas (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/forest-atlases" target="_blank"> WRI’s Forest Atlas</a>, which provides freely accessible infrastructure for online platforms that are hosted within and owned by national institutions, offers a solution for cocoa monitoring at a national scale. By combining official government data on land use with national and global datasets on forest change, this platform could enable CFI monitoring and management by governments. </p>



<p>The CFI’s industry wide commitment&nbsp;to collaborative&nbsp;and&nbsp;robust monitoring solutions is a commendable first step&nbsp;in combatting deforestation.&nbsp;With monitoring systems in place, CFI signatories will be able to&nbsp;effectively&nbsp;measure and&nbsp;manage&nbsp;impacts from the cocoa sector. WRI looks forward to continuing to support&nbsp;positive change&nbsp;for&nbsp;West Africa and&nbsp;around the globe,&nbsp;so that consumers can rest easy knowing no forests were harmed in the making of that chocolate bar.&nbsp;</p>



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BANNER PHOTO: Cocoa beans on a farm in Ghana. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. 


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Ever wonder where the chocolate in your&nbsp;candy bar&nbsp;came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances

Keeping an Eye on Cocoa: Satellite Monitoring Provides Key Support on No Deforestation Commitments | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Sarah Ruiz

Forest Insights

Forest Insights | Global Forest Watch Blog

amazon

amazon | Global Forest Watch Blog

Peru

Peru | Global Forest Watch Blog

Octavia Payne

Sarah Alix Mann

<p>By <a href="http://www.wri.org/profile/octavia-aris-payne" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Octavia Payne</a> and <a href="http://www.wri.org/profile/sarah-alix-mann" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sarah Alix Mann</a>  <a href="http://www.unitedcacao.com/index.php/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Cacao</a>, a publicly-traded, commercial producer of the raw material that goes into chocolate—its symbol on the London Stock Exchange is <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CHOC:LN" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CHOC</a>—has earned some unwelcome attention recently for its large-scale clearing of trees in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon. Reports about the clearing of over 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of trees in Intact Forest Landscapes first emerged from <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0120-gfrn-cannon-company-clears-forest-for-chocolate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>, then at outlets including <a href="http://www.confectionerynews.com/Commodities/United-Cacao-faces-deforestation-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Confectionary News</a>, <a href="http://ojo-publico.com/44/el-financista-norteamericano-acusado-de-deforestacion-en-el-peru" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ojo Público</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/07/head-of-london-listed-company-linked-to-illegal-clearing-of-peru-rainforest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian</a>. <a href="http://www.wri.org/news/2014/09/release-new-analysis-finds-over-100-million-hectares-intact-forest-area-degraded-2000" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Intact Forest Landscapes</a> are the world’s last remaining large undisturbed forests, containing no signs of fragmentation by infrastructure and logging such as roads, mining and oil and gas development. The Amazon is the world’s largest remaining continuous Intact Forest Landscape.</p>
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/0206unitedcacao.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter  wp-image-1937" alt="0206unitedcacao" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/0206unitedcacao.jpg" width="100%" height="427" /></a>  Land cleared to make way for United Cacao’s 2,000 hectare (5,000 acre) plantation. Source: <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0206-alert-united-cacao-peru.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>.</div>
<p>As shown on the Global Forest Watch map below, this controversial patch of land is a dot in the jungle in Peru’s Loreto region. However, this area holds some of the <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0416-mrn-gfrn-cannon-court-rules-united-cacao-deforestation-legal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">most carbon-rich and biodiverse forest</a> on the planet and is part of <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/2/e1500052" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the last vast expanses</a> of untouched ecosystems in the world.</p>
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-Zoom-In-from-SA.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter  wp-image-1933" alt="UC Zoom In from SA" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-Zoom-In-from-SA.jpg" width="100%" /></a>  United Cacao cleared 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land near Iquitos, Peru, the world’s largest city inaccessible by road.</div>
<p>Located just outside Iquitos, the world’s largest city inaccessible by road (only by airplanes and boats), and connected to the small town of Tamashiyacu, the United Cacao plantation is far from the public eye. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11264067/United-Cacao-sweetens-Aim-with-23m-float.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Cacao officials claimed</a> this would be largest cacao plantation in the world. They also said they would practice sustainable agriculture on what was previously degraded and farmed land. However, <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0120-gfrn-cannon-company-clears-forest-for-chocolate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay, researchers at the Amazon Conservation Association</a>, and researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science used satellite imagery, laser scans, and GFW data to show how the patches were carved out of an Intact Forest Landscape, which is now visibly degraded. It’s also possible to see the clear-cut trees strewn across the unplanted land.</p>
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/clearing2.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter  wp-image-1939" alt="clearing2" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/clearing2.jpg" width="100%" /></a>  Clear-cut trees strewn across land slated for United Cacao plantation. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/07/head-of-london-listed-company-linked-to-illegal-clearing-of-peru-rainforest#img-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EIA</a>.</div>
<div class="embed">  <iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/embed/map/12/-3.97/-73.04/ALL/satellite/loss/607?begin=2013-01-01&end=2014-01-01&threshold=30" height="600" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe><a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/12/-3.97/-73.04/ALL/satellite/loss/607?tab=countries-tab&begin=2013-01-01&end=2014-01-01&threshold=30" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">View on the interactive map</a>.</div>
<p>United Cacao clearing overlaps with Intact Forest Landscape. Light green denotes forest degradation; dark green is intact forest landscape; pink is tree cover loss.</p>
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-clear-cut-GIF.gif"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter  wp-image-1943" alt="UC-clear-cut-GIF" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-clear-cut-GIF.gif" width="100%" /></a>  Satellite image of cleared area for United Cacao plantation.</div>
<p>Peru’s government initially ordered United Cacao to halt operations, as environmental impact assessments and land use rights were called into question. Yet, a <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0416-mrn-gfrn-cannon-court-rules-united-cacao-deforestation-legal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local court</a> recently ruled the clearing to be legal, which allowed United Cacao to resume clearing and planting. This suggests that as cacao production expands in Latin America, and companies like United Cacao set their sights on fertile forested regions, such activities could become a trend.  This may put United Cacao—and other operators if they follow in United Cacao’s footsteps—at odds with a growing push toward corporate <a href="http://supply-change.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zero-deforestation</a> <a href="http://www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/strategic-focus/sustainability/board-resolution-on-deforestation">commitments</a> from major commodity suppliers and buyers. Over 60% of palm oil buyers have promised not to buy oil associated with deforestation other industries are quickly following suit. Some scientists have <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0206-alert-united-cacao-peru.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">already warned investors</a> that buying from United Cacao would be inconsistent with sustainable investment or procurement policies.  This doesn’t mean that all land is off limits for agriculture. <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/creating-sustainable-food-future-interim-findings" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New research</a> is increasingly showing how companies can avoid further deforestation by expanding sustainable agriculture onto already degraded lands. A <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1219-degraded-lands-map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent study</a> mapped 125 million hectares globally (309 million acres or an area almost as large as Peru itself) of low-carbon degraded land that is potentially suitable for agriculture. Under the right conditions, expanding cacao production could be diverted toward some of this land. This would prevent clearing of carbon- and biodiversity-rich forest as well as increase agricultural productivity on degraded land, resulting in <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/landscape-restoration%E2%80%94-winning-strategy-warmer-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and livelihood protection</a>.  However, United Cacao is currently acquiring more land for its operations—more than <a href="http://www.unitedcacao.com/index.php/en/corporate-profile-eng/the-project-area" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4,000 hectares</a> (nearly 10,000 acres) by the end of 2015—and plans to add 1,250 hectares (3,000 acres) to its 2,000-hectare (5,000-acre) plantation by the end of 2016. For its existing operations, sustainability may already be beyond reach. But for any future expansion, the company should seek (or <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/10/%E2%80%9Cswapping-land%E2%80%9D-produce-sustainable-palm-oil-indonesia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">swap</a> for) available degraded land rather than encroaching upon more carbon-rich forest.</p>
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-plans.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter  wp-image-1940" alt="UC plans" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-plans.jpg" width="100%" /></a>  Map from United Cacao website shows land area designated for cacao plantation. Lower rectangle denotes already cleared area; upper denotes planned clearing. Source: <a href="http://www.unitedcacao.com/index.php/en/corporate-profile-eng/the-project-area" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Cacao</a>.</div>
<p>Holding companies accountable with near real-time data is increasingly important to preserving pristine forests. Improving transparency around destructive activities helps set high standards for good corporate behavior in the region and beyond.  As the story continues to unfold, you can remotely monitor changes on the ground using <a href="http://bit.ly/1dGP99Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FORMA Alerts</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/1dGPf17" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Terra-i data</a> via the Global Forest Watch platform.</p>
<div class="center">  <img decoding="async" class="aligncenter" alt="" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-Alerts.gif" width="100%" />  FORMA and Terra-i alerts show near real-time progression of forest clearing.</div>
<p>To follow the full story, scroll through the interactive timeline below or click <a href="http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=1XOl3CODkXcqZpELySGalVSKQSWoyZ86nq0roAs7mnhw&font=Bevan-PotanoSans&maptype=toner&lang=en&height=650" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<div class="center">  <iframe loading="lazy" src="http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=1XOl3CODkXcqZpELySGalVSKQSWoyZ86nq0roAs7mnhw&font=Bevan-PotanoSans&maptype=toner&lang=en&height=650" height="650" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe></div>
<p><a href="http://cdb.io/1F6nElR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">See this spot on the map</a>.</p>
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<p><span class="footnote">This article originally appeared on <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/06/zooming-%E2%80%9Csustainable%E2%80%9D-cocoa-producer-destroys-pristine-forest-peru" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Insights</a>.</span></p>
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Zooming In: “Sustainable” Cocoa Producer Destroys Pristine Forest in Peru

By <a href="http://www.wri.org/profile/octavia-aris-payne" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Octavia Payne</a> and <a href="http://www.wri.org/profile/sarah-alix-mann" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sarah Alix Mann</a>  <a href="http://www.unitedcacao.com/index.php/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Cacao</a>, a publicly-traded, commercial producer of the raw material that goes into chocolate—its symbol on the London Stock Exchange is <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CHOC:LN" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CHOC</a>—has earned some unwelcome attention recently for its large-scale clearing of trees in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon. Reports about the clearing of over 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of trees in Intact Forest Landscapes first emerged from <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0120-gfrn-cannon-company-clears-forest-for-chocolate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>, then at outlets including <a href="http://www.confectionerynews.com/Commodities/United-Cacao-faces-deforestation-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Confectionary News</a>, <a href="http://ojo-publico.com/44/el-financista-norteamericano-acusado-de-deforestacion-en-el-peru" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ojo Público</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/07/head-of-london-listed-company-linked-to-illegal-clearing-of-peru-rainforest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian</a>. <a href="http://www.wri.org/news/2014/09/release-new-analysis-finds-over-100-million-hectares-intact-forest-area-degraded-2000" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Intact Forest Landscapes</a> are the world’s last remaining large undisturbed forests, containing no signs of fragmentation by infrastructure and logging such as roads, mining and oil and gas development. The Amazon is the world’s largest remaining continuous Intact Forest Landscape.
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/0206unitedcacao.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1937" alt="0206unitedcacao" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/0206unitedcacao.jpg" width="100%" height="427" /></a>  Land cleared to make way for United Cacao’s 2,000 hectare (5,000 acre) plantation. Source: <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0206-alert-united-cacao-peru.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>.</div>
As shown on the Global Forest Watch map below, this controversial patch of land is a dot in the jungle in Peru’s Loreto region. However, this area holds some of the <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0416-mrn-gfrn-cannon-court-rules-united-cacao-deforestation-legal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">most carbon-rich and biodiverse forest</a> on the planet and is part of <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/2/e1500052" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the last vast expanses</a> of untouched ecosystems in the world.
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-Zoom-In-from-SA.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1933" alt="UC Zoom In from SA" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-Zoom-In-from-SA.jpg" width="100%" /></a>  United Cacao cleared 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land near Iquitos, Peru, the world’s largest city inaccessible by road.</div>
Located just outside Iquitos, the world’s largest city inaccessible by road (only by airplanes and boats), and connected to the small town of Tamashiyacu, the United Cacao plantation is far from the public eye. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11264067/United-Cacao-sweetens-Aim-with-23m-float.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Cacao officials claimed</a> this would be largest cacao plantation in the world. They also said they would practice sustainable agriculture on what was previously degraded and farmed land. However, <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0120-gfrn-cannon-company-clears-forest-for-chocolate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay, researchers at the Amazon Conservation Association</a>, and researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science used satellite imagery, laser scans, and GFW data to show how the patches were carved out of an Intact Forest Landscape, which is now visibly degraded. It’s also possible to see the clear-cut trees strewn across the unplanted land.
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/clearing2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1939" alt="clearing2" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/clearing2.jpg" width="100%" /></a>  Clear-cut trees strewn across land slated for United Cacao plantation. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/07/head-of-london-listed-company-linked-to-illegal-clearing-of-peru-rainforest#img-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EIA</a>.</div>
<div class="embed">  <iframe src="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/embed/map/12/-3.97/-73.04/ALL/satellite/loss/607?begin=2013-01-01&amp;end=2014-01-01&amp;threshold=30" height="600" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe><a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/12/-3.97/-73.04/ALL/satellite/loss/607?tab=countries-tab&amp;begin=2013-01-01&amp;end=2014-01-01&amp;threshold=30" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">View on the interactive map</a>.</div>
United Cacao clearing overlaps with Intact Forest Landscape. Light green denotes forest degradation; dark green is intact forest landscape; pink is tree cover loss.
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-clear-cut-GIF.gif"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1943" alt="UC-clear-cut-GIF" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-clear-cut-GIF.gif" width="100%" /></a>  Satellite image of cleared area for United Cacao plantation.</div>
Peru’s government initially ordered United Cacao to halt operations, as environmental impact assessments and land use rights were called into question. Yet, a <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0416-mrn-gfrn-cannon-court-rules-united-cacao-deforestation-legal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local court</a> recently ruled the clearing to be legal, which allowed United Cacao to resume clearing and planting. This suggests that as cacao production expands in Latin America, and companies like United Cacao set their sights on fertile forested regions, such activities could become a trend.  This may put United Cacao—and other operators if they follow in United Cacao’s footsteps—at odds with a growing push toward corporate <a href="http://supply-change.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zero-deforestation</a> <a href="http://www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/strategic-focus/sustainability/board-resolution-on-deforestation">commitments</a> from major commodity suppliers and buyers. Over 60% of palm oil buyers have promised not to buy oil associated with deforestation other industries are quickly following suit. Some scientists have <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0206-alert-united-cacao-peru.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">already warned investors</a> that buying from United Cacao would be inconsistent with sustainable investment or procurement policies.  This doesn’t mean that all land is off limits for agriculture. <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/creating-sustainable-food-future-interim-findings" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New research</a> is increasingly showing how companies can avoid further deforestation by expanding sustainable agriculture onto already degraded lands. A <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1219-degraded-lands-map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent study</a> mapped 125 million hectares globally (309 million acres or an area almost as large as Peru itself) of low-carbon degraded land that is potentially suitable for agriculture. Under the right conditions, expanding cacao production could be diverted toward some of this land. This would prevent clearing of carbon- and biodiversity-rich forest as well as increase agricultural productivity on degraded land, resulting in <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/12/landscape-restoration%E2%80%94-winning-strategy-warmer-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and livelihood protection</a>.  However, United Cacao is currently acquiring more land for its operations—more than <a href="http://www.unitedcacao.com/index.php/en/corporate-profile-eng/the-project-area" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4,000 hectares</a> (nearly 10,000 acres) by the end of 2015—and plans to add 1,250 hectares (3,000 acres) to its 2,000-hectare (5,000-acre) plantation by the end of 2016. For its existing operations, sustainability may already be beyond reach. But for any future expansion, the company should seek (or <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/10/%E2%80%9Cswapping-land%E2%80%9D-produce-sustainable-palm-oil-indonesia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">swap</a> for) available degraded land rather than encroaching upon more carbon-rich forest.
<div class="center">  <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-plans.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1940" alt="UC plans" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-plans.jpg" width="100%" /></a>  Map from United Cacao website shows land area designated for cacao plantation. Lower rectangle denotes already cleared area; upper denotes planned clearing. Source: <a href="http://www.unitedcacao.com/index.php/en/corporate-profile-eng/the-project-area" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Cacao</a>.</div>
Holding companies accountable with near real-time data is increasingly important to preserving pristine forests. Improving transparency around destructive activities helps set high standards for good corporate behavior in the region and beyond.  As the story continues to unfold, you can remotely monitor changes on the ground using <a href="http://bit.ly/1dGP99Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FORMA Alerts</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/1dGPf17" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Terra-i data</a> via the Global Forest Watch platform.
<div class="center">  <img class="aligncenter" alt="" src="https://content.globalforestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UC-Alerts.gif" width="100%" />  FORMA and Terra-i alerts show near real-time progression of forest clearing.</div>
To follow the full story, scroll through the interactive timeline below or click <a href="http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=1XOl3CODkXcqZpELySGalVSKQSWoyZ86nq0roAs7mnhw&amp;font=Bevan-PotanoSans&amp;maptype=toner&amp;lang=en&amp;height=650" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.
<div class="center">  <iframe src="http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=1XOl3CODkXcqZpELySGalVSKQSWoyZ86nq0roAs7mnhw&amp;font=Bevan-PotanoSans&amp;maptype=toner&amp;lang=en&amp;height=650" height="650" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe></div>
<a href="http://cdb.io/1F6nElR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">See this spot on the map</a>.

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<span class="footnote">This article originally appeared on <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/06/zooming-%E2%80%9Csustainable%E2%80%9D-cocoa-producer-destroys-pristine-forest-peru" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Insights</a>.</span>

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By Octavia Payne and Sarah Alix Mann United Cacao, a publicly-traded, commercial producer of the raw material that goes into chocolate—its symbol on the

Zooming In: “Sustainable” Cocoa Producer Destroys Pristine Forest in Peru | Forest Insights | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Zooming In: “Sustainable” Cocoa Producer Destroys Pristine Forest in Peru